Construction of ships



! HHHH T.. W. KIRBY. Construction of Ships.

Patented July 20,1880.

INVBN TOR ATTORNEYS.

NAPETERS, PNDTD-LITHDGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. Dv Cv I UNITED STATES PAT NTOFFICE.

THOMAS W. KIRBY, OFGRAND HAVEN, MICHIGAN.

CONSTRUCTION F SHIPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 230,286, dated July 20,1880.

Application filed April 5, 1879. 1

Grand Haven, inthe county of Ottawa and State of Michigan, have inventeda new and Improved Construction of Ships, of which the following is aspecification.

The object of my invention is to provide.

ships hulls with devices and arrangements for strengthening the bilgeand bottom and preventing what is known as hogging.

It consists in connecting the bilge with the beam by iron rods, servingas braces that sus-.

tain it from the beam and thus prevent it from yielding to any strain.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a top plan of the ship,looking down in the hold. .Fig. 2 is alongitudinal vertical section ofthe same on line 00 00. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on line y y, and Fig.4: represents in detail the mode of connecting the rods with the shipsbilge.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

Referring'to the drawings, A A are the ships sides. B B are the bilges.G is the bottom. D indicates the beams. E is the keelson, and arepresents the stanchions connecting the keelson and beams together,sustaining the latter and the deck, and supporting the bottom to someextent.

F represents the bolts for connecting the ends of the hog-rods G withthe bilges B. They consist of iron bolts passed through the bilgesdiagonally, and the manner of applyin g them is as follows A hole isbored through the bilge of a proper diameter to receive the bolts. Thenthe bolt or rod is threaded its whole length. The end is then headedwith a square or rivet head. A Washer is next slipped over the rod downto the head, and the bolt inserted in the hole and driven through astight as a drift-bolt is driventhat is, until its head bears as tightlyas possible against the bilge. A nut, b, is now passed over the bolt andscrewed tightly down against the ships ceiling. This keeps the bolt inthe hole in case a rod breaks by any accident.

' The hog-rods G are threaded at eachend and connect with the bolts F byturn-buckles c, and are passed through the beams andfastened by a nut,or they may pass through an iron plate let into the beam under the deck,and the nut screwed down on it to prevent the nut from cutting into thebeam.

By means of the turn-buckles the rods can be screwed up tightly, so thatthey will afford direct support to the bilge and bottom. The hog-rods G,it will be observed, connect with every other beam for the length of thekeelson on both sides, and thus support the bilges their whole lengthand prevent the ships bottom from hogging. The hog-rods G, forconvenience, may be made in several sections joined together by solideyes or couplings The advantages of this improvement will be apparent tothe skilled ship-builder. It is well known that, owing to the peculiarshape of the vessels bottom and sides, the bilges are exposed to a verygreat strain, and that too where they are least able to bear it 5consequently, at these points, whatis known as hogging occurs-that is,the ships bilges have a tendency to drop and her bottom to spring up.

My invention, however, by staying the bilges from the beam by thehog-rods, gives them strength to resist the strain to which they aresubjected, and thus greatly increases the strength and durability of theships;

The invention is applicable to any kind of ship, wood or iron, and withone or more decks. In the latter the rods are connected with the beamsof the second or third deck, as the case may be. In all cases the boltsF are passed through the bilge at the center of the turn at an angleappropriate to the heightot' the beam. The heads of the bolts outsidemay be made of a metal not susceptible to corrosion when the improvementis applied to vessels for southern waters. The outside streaks d on theshipsbilges, where the bolts go through, should be at least one inchthicker than the other plank on the bilges, so that the heads of thebolts can be I or the bilges from settling down. Their office is toassist in preventing the sides of the hull from vibrating. Each bilge isbraced from the opposite side of the vessel, and as the sides drop theynecessarily carry down the bilges with them and hog the vessel. Nor canthis defect be remedied by placing stanehions between the keelson andbeams; for if the rods are crossed the stanchions simply spring up thebeams when the hilges drop, because there is nothing to tie thestanchions to the bilges.

Myin vention overcomes these objections and defects, for by arrangingthe stanchions and hog-rods as I propose the bilges are prevented fromdropping down, or, what would be the same thing in efi'eet, preventingthe bottom from being forced upward between the bilges, as in both casesthe tendency is resisted by the compressive strength of the stanchionsand the tensile strength of the hog-rods. There- THOMAS WATERS KIRBY.

lVitnesses:

Capt. J 01in FuuLoNe, Capt. THos. WALsu.

